LEGAL HELP PLEASE: house has an inhibition from Greenbelt Group Ltd

[housinghelp101]

Went to view a property that is listed in an auction. I'm very interested, the price is affordable, good area. The auctioneer man said the vendor has a large portfolio of properties and is selling 3 via the auction to release funds for a bigger project. All good. Got the legal pack last night and an inhibition is listed from/with the above company.

It seems from the website that a buyer cannot have the house/land registered in his/her name until they receive (ie purchase) a Certificate from this company. I phoned the company to find out the details, but they were very reluctant to tell me anything, except to say that they should have been informed that the property was for sale. She did say that the inhibition was forevermore and that the owner would have to pay service charges and adhere to rules.

Sorry for the essay....does anyone know what this is about? My solicitor is away until next week so can;t speak to the company. I cannot understand why the current owner would take out this inhibition (he did this several months after buying it) as it is a semi-townhouse with a tiny back garden. You are paying annual charges for shrub/tree maintenance and there aren't any

Any insight/advice gratefully received.

Should have said that the property is in tiny development (less than ten houses) with no shared or communal green areas in Northern Ireland.

The Greenbelt Group will have put the inhibition on the property to prevent resale without the seller paying balance due. Fairly simple to sort out - the Green belt Group don't usually deal with anything major - there must be forest area or something round about they have taken over.

@glitterytrainers thanks for the reply and clarification. Is this a problem? A bit of a google tells me that the GBC are notorious for putting up service charges.

Greenbelt offer management services for 'private' estates (that aren't really private at all). On these developments you'll pay for the maintained areas, which could be anything from a parking space to the road itself to a village green. Your freehold property is not really freehold at all.

Look up the Home Owners Rights Network on Facebook. There are thousands of people paying unregulated service charges under these agreements.

@MrsMaiselsMuff thanks. Unfortunately after reading about it I don't think I will go after the property now, it just seems like a minefield. This is the first time I have heard about service charges, I don't think it is common here but apparently this group have taken over a few estates here and there are so many complaints on trust pilot.

housinghelp101 very common here in Scotland and the charges don't appear to be very high at all - they are only maintaining woodland areas.

I used to own a property in a small development in Cambridgeshire with service charges by Greenbelt Group. A group of neighbours disputed the exorbitant charges (around £1,000 a year about 10 years ago) for simply cutting the grass in a shared area - not even a playground area, just grass. They have nothing to do with maintaining forest areas at low cost as OPs have suggested on this thread. They're just a greedy rubbish company. In the end, the whole development managed to get out of the covenant in the conveyancing and we were able to give them the sack but it was a pain the arse.

Thank you @Loletta. My worry is that the charges are extortionate (the lady I spoke to from GBG wouldn't tell me how much) and a bit of a search shows that the houses have been in a lot of auctions and For Sale. The development isn't even 10 years old and the amount of sales makes me wonder if people are sick of the T&C's. As I said the development is tiny, no green areas whatsoever, hardly even a road, so I don't know what the upkeep would be for.

You'd be wise to look somewhere else!

Sounds like a 'fleecehold' development. It is explained here. Don't touch it with a bargepole.

@NotDavidTennant that sounds exactly what it is. I'm gutted as this would have been my chance to buy a forever home (I'm renting) at a very affordable price. Would it still be a terrible idea if I bought it with no intention to sell it? I'm not bothered about paying a few £££ per year. What would/could be further consequences?